In December 2015, a Canadian military plane landed in Toronto with 163 Syrian refugees on board.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at the airport to welcome them to their new country.

Their arrival was part of Canada’s promise to accept 25,000 refugees forced out of Syria because of the civil war. The 25,000th refugee arrived in early 2016. Now there are many thousands more.

Baby Trudeau

A Syrian family living in the Canadian province of Alberta has named their new baby after Trudeau.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Toronto Star reported that Justin-Trudeau Adam Bilal was born last Thursday. He weighed about 3.5 kilograms.

The baby’s parents, Afraa Hajj Hammoud and Mohammed Belal, have two other young children. They said they started thinking about naming their baby after Trudeau two months ago.

The CBC wrote that Belal asked his wife if she would consider the name.

Hammoud said she smiled “a small smile” and said it would be “no problem. It will be like a small thank you for Justin Trudeau.”

Hammoud said her family left Syria and lived in Lebanon for three years before coming to Canada. They had to adjust to speaking English and the cold weather, but their lives, she said, “are getting better every day.”

The story of baby Justin-Trudeau spread on Facebook. By Monday morning, it was a trending topic.

The new Justin-Trudeau is not the first immigrant baby named after the Canadian prime minister. The CBC reported last November that another Syrian family in Alberta named its son Justin.

That child’s father said Trudeau has “a deep sense of humanity.”

Trudeau called the family’s gesture “touching.”

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English based on reporting from The Star and CBC. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in This Story

gesture – n. something said or done to show a particular feeling or attitude